


Rainfall

by MaiKeehl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Coran is everybody's Dad figure, Coran is the True Dad that none of us deserve, Gen, Hunk has mild anxiety, Hurt/Comfort, Keith and Pidge are conspiracy theorists, Keith and Shiro are Adoptive Siblings, Light Angst, Past minor character death, She/They pronouns for pidge, Shiro still has PTSD, Supernatural Elements, cryptids and anomalies, keith doesn't usually swear but pidge doesn't shut up so, keith is Aspergers Autistic, lance has ADHD, pidge is asexual, pidge is genderfluid
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-10-09 18:37:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10418559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MaiKeehl/pseuds/MaiKeehl
Summary: It wasn't until the third meeting that Keith noticed anything was amiss- not that he'd admit it.Out of anyone, Keith prided himself on knowing enough and being observant enough to notice things that others didn't, or wouldn't. He could name off the top of his head at least twelve Local Cryptids that he knew for sure were real and could be monitored; like the striking White Cat on Belvedere Street that only ever appeared on Tuesdays at 2;46pm if a person wearing red was around, or the tree in the forest out back that never lost it's somewhat purple tinged leaves and always had at least one berry on it, even in the depths of winter.The point is, Keith knew his Cryptids. And this kid with the obnoxious smile and the blue eyes was totally a cryptid, no matter what Hunk said.





	1. Storm

**Author's Note:**

> OKay so i usually??? dont write?? im more of an art person but recently i read loads of fics about like  
> AU Keith/The gang meeting Lance and thinking the kid is a dang cryptid sO thats what i wanted to write about because  
> I love Conspiracy Theorists Keith and Pidge
> 
> I wrote Keith as Aspergers Autistic, because I, myself, actually am diagnosed with that and I kinda....project onto Keith a lot.  
> Keith has my Autistic tendencies, like the schedule and the stimming and the oversensitivity on Bad Days, as well as my selective muteness around introductory interactions with new people.  
> So yeah, please remember that Autism is a spectrum and everyone experiences it differently and your Autistic Keith might be different to my Autistic Keith etc thank you <3
> 
> Also they all live in Cuba, the Garrison in this AU is a STEM College (Maths, English, Sciences, Technology etc) near the Cuban coast that provides student accommodation for those attending who've moved away from their families.  
> I didn't write this shippy, because I see them more as friends here, but if you want to you could read this as Pre-Relationship or whatever

It wasn't until the third meeting that Keith noticed anything was amiss- not that he'd admit it.  
Out of anyone, Keith prided himself on knowing enough- being observant enough to notice things that others didn't, or wouldn't. He could name off the top of his head at least twelve Local Cryptids that he knew for sure were real and could be monitored; like the striking White Cat on Belvedere Street that only ever appeared on Tuesdays at 2;46pm if a person wearing red was around, or the tree in the forest out back that never lost it's somewhat purple tinged leaves and always had at least one berry on it, even in the depths of winter.  
The point is, Keith knew his Cryptids.

The first meeting happened in autumn, the street lamps bright and the pathways crammed with people milling in and out of the shops and diners, with Keith's phone screen shining out a faint blue glow inside the warmly lit cafe, the numbers 3;27pm taunting that his shift somehow was not at all ending.

"If you keep glaring at your phone like that, you're going to scare away all the damn customers and their tips- you are not sabotaging this contest just because i've nearly got more than you." Pidge taunted, moving up to the counter beside Keith to steal away the rag he'd been- and stopped- using to clean the bench before the rain had started to pour. 

"I'm not glaring, Pidge, i'm just..." he trailed off, sighing and thumbing at the ring on his finger, tracing it a couple of times before glancing back at his phone. "Shiro was meant to text me, it's Saturday and-"  
"I understand, Keith," Pidge cut in, flopping the rag over his phone to cover the screen "It's Saturday; you wake up at 5, have a hot chocolate, walk down main street, feed the cat-"  
"His name is Mothman, Pidge!" Keith exclaimed, eyes flicking up to meet hers for a second before moving back down.  
"-yeah, feed Mothman, water the plants behind the hedge, go to work, get a text from Shiro at 3;20, leave work at 3;45 and go home to watch Documentaries." She finished, rolling her eyes and pulling back the rag. "I've known you for two years, Emo, I know your schedule better than I know the carbon count and efficiency of any robotics motor you can name."

The rain fell outside, and one of the two people sat in the quiet cafe stood up to leave, catching the two waiting staff's attention. A quickly muttered "mine" escaped Pidge's lips as the person walked out the front door, before they vaulted over the counter and picked up the tip left on the table, pocketing it and beginning to clear up the mug and plate left behind.  
Their attention was brought back to the door as it opened again, two figures entering quickly and closing down an umbrella, shaking off the extra water as they patted themselves down.  
Keith had recognised Hunk, Pidge's friend and classmate, and a brilliant engineer who could build and fix machines, who also was one of the actual best cooks Keith had ever tasted meals from. Keith however did not, at all, recognise the other face, but somehow didn't feel the immediate muteness coming on that usually happened whenever he had to meet someone new. This was something he'd brush aside until later though, and another thing he'd deny altogether.

"Pidge! Keith! Glad I caught you before you guys left, I mean I know Pidge's shift is later than yours, Keith, but it's good to see you is what i'm saying-" Hunk babbled, picking Pidge up in a hug before setting them down and patting Keith on the arm warmly. "I want to introduce you to someone! Okay, so I was over at the beach shack with Shay and Nyma and that Rolo dude, we were all studying for Mr Zarkon's class- did you know he set us seven pages of homework, by the way? Who does that! Seven pages of Engineering QOT!"  
"Focus, Hunk" Pidge prodded his stomach lightly, laughing. "You were studying at the beach shack..?"  
"Oh yeah! And then Rolo- weird dude, don't trust him half the distance I can throw him, Mama doesn't either, says she'd not even offer him Puligi, and Mama offers everyone Puligi okay even Mr Kolivian- he introduces his friend Lance, this is Lance-" he gestured, holding the smaller male, who was certainly trying not to laugh, close, "- who's super cool, lived in Cuba his whole life but just recently moved here for College also he's going to be joining our class!" He finished, grinning happily.

Lance waved, before holding his hand out to Pidge and Keith, the former Shook it whilst the latter decided to busy his hands with cleaning mugs. "Well, as you heard it! The name's Lance, and we're gonna be in the same class at the Garrison. You're Pitch, was it?"  
"Pidge, actually, but yeah." they corrected, pushing up their glasses. "okay so, to get this out of the way, I like peanut butter, and i like peanut butter cookies, but I hate Peanuts! My pronouns are She/Them and also i sweat a lot....unrelated to the Peanuts."  
Lance furrowed his eyebrows, pulling his hand back. "You...don't like Peanuts? Like...at all?" he questioned, flicking his eyes over to Hunk, who was ruffling Pidge's hair, before shrugging. "Eh, your loss."  
His attention moved then, pulling over to Keith who was still quietly cleaning the mugs. "What's your story, Mullet?"

Keith looked up, brows furrowed as Pidge snickered to themselves and Hunk laughed out again. "I- What?" he lifted his hand, smoothing down the messy back of his hair.  
"At ease, Mullet Man! Keith right?"  
"Uh, Yeah."  
"Yikes, small talker. Well, what Drinkers do you recommend, MCR?" Lance said, leaning against the counter and pointing at the Menu board.  
Keith followed the movement of his hand, glancing at the board before focusing back on the bridge of his nose. "I don't know what your taste is...." he said stiffly, moving a step back to gain some space.  
Lance followed the movement, before pursing his lips apologetically and stepping back a step. "I dunno, I like most things. I'm a weak ass for something with an aftertaste though." 

"You'll want something from the Autumn range specifically, then." Pidge piped up, moving behind the counter after having set the used dishes into the wash. She tapped Keith on the arm slightly, causing him to look down and see the indent left in his hand from squeezing a cup too tightly. He murmured a quick thanks before looking back up to Lance and Hunk, while Pidge dropped their tip into the jar and added more lines to the tally on the chalkboard.  
"The Grish Berried Mocha is pretty good," he said, pointing to the option so Lance could read the ingredients, "are you two sitting in?"

"Ah, No sorry," Hunk blurted, pulling his phone out of his pockets quickly to check the time, "I have to go to tutoring with Allen and Mz Luxia in 20 for Food Tech."  
Lance made a sympathetic face towards his friend, before turning back to the two behind the counter. "Afraid i'll have to deprive you of this beautiful face, too, so if I could get that Mocha to go? Awesome. I wanna make it home before the rain kicks out."

Keith made a face before moving to the side to start making the drink in question, and Pidge scrunched their nose at Lance, gesturing to the windows being pelted with rain. "You actually want to go home in the rain? Are you begging to get a cold?" 

Lance winked, making a zipping motion. "So why's it called a Grish Berry Mocha? Never heard of a Grish Berry." he mused, eyes twinkling in the low orange light of the cafe. Hunk sidled up beside him, looking curious and putting his phone away, and grabbing a mango from the bowl to the side.

Keith snapped the lip onto the paper cup, bringing it over. "That's 5 peso. And it's actually Grish Berried, not Berry, and Grish is the name of one of the people who work here who made it up. They're pretty good at making new drinks, not my taste though." He mumbled, taking the cash that Lance had handed over. His eyes widened as he looked at the drink. "You're not allergic to anything are you?"  
Lance laughed, taking the cup and sauntering over to the door. "Only Dry Land, Mullet Boy, adios!" he called, saluting quickly, and making his way out of the Cafe, Hunk close behind waving.

After they left, the store was quiet. The rain pattered against the windows and the last customer gathered their bags and left. Keith checked his phone, relieved to see a text from Shiro- if slightly late- and that his Shift had ended.  
His shift had ended three minutes ago.

"Hey Pidge-"  
"Yeah yeah, Shift's over, go have fun Asper, what Documentary is it tonight?" She asked, tapping away at the till as Keith hung up his apron.  
"Bigfoot in Alabama, Coran got me that disk set remember?" He answered half-minded, focused on shrugging his coat on, patting down his pocket for his keys and clicker.  
"Sounds rad, you'll have to lend me it if it's good. Night Keith!" she said, dragging her stool over and kicking her feet as she slumped down into the counter.  
He laughed, making his way to the front of the store, looking back quickly with a smile before leaving into the Storm.

Looking back, Keith would pin notes to a board detailing how Lance, despite having warm dark skin, and a large green parka with orange stripes on it, seemed so unreasonably Blue in his mind, more than should be possible. More than Human.  
His eyes were bright, his were actions energetic and warm, his hair was damp, and his words were Blue like a morning rainfall, an easy patter on windows.


	2. Ocean

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It wasn't until after the fourth meeting that Keith began taking notes, before pulling apart his board about the Abandoned Dog shelter on the 3rd street down the main road; the one that had no dogs in it, yet every night at 7 pm, the time Keith had found that the Dogs used to get Walked by the people who worked the shelter, you could hear the barking of tens of dogs coming from inside, but the minute you went to check it out, it stopped.  
> He scrapped that all that research, throwing it to the side, stealing his Mom's red string once more, and instead putting up every bit of detail he could think of about the enigma kid with the Blue voice.  
> Like the things he noticed on the Second Meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shiro and Keith both have a pretty bad day today, im so sorry  
> But hey, Keith has some people looking out for him
> 
> and the rain is back

It wasn't until after the fourth meeting that Keith began taking notes, before pulling apart his board about the Abandoned Dog shelter on the 3rd street down the main road; the one that had no dogs in it, yet every night at 7 pm, the time Keith had found that the Dogs used to get Walked by the people who worked the shelter, you could hear the barking of tens of dogs coming from inside, but the minute you went to check it out, it stopped.  
He scrapped that all that research, throwing it to the side, stealing his Mom's red string once more, and instead putting up every bit of detail he could think of about the enigma kid with the Blue voice.  
Like the things he noticed on the Second Meeting.

The second meeting in question was during class on the Monday two weeks after the first meeting, in the third class of the day, a study session Keith shared with Hunk- and now Lance, apparently.  
It was raining again on Monday, the first proper rain since that Saturday apart from small couple-minute drizzles of rain here and there, mostly during the night or early in the mornings.

Monday was not a good day, Keith had found.   
Shiro had woken early that morning, screaming and panting and clutching at his stump- not a rare occurrence, after everything that had happened, Shiro was plagued with night terrors some nights; flashes and memories of the crash that had taken his arm, His Best Friend, and his Best Friend's Dad all in one night, totalling Mr Holt's car and injuring one other driver in it's wake; a friendly woman called Florona who'd lost use of both her legs.   
Keith and their Mom had sat by his side, keeping him company but giving him space to breath as he dragged himself out of his state the best he could, sobs wracking his chest.  
The nightmares left him with Ghost pains, and he wasn't quite himself the rest of the day.

Keith also hadn't been quite himself that day. Shiro's night terror had thrown off his schedule, and the domino effect of that spiralled down until Keith had his earphones in most of the day playing background sound to block out the noise of the people, spinning his ring and pulling his hood over his eyes to combat the over stimulation best he could.  
His first lesson was with a pretty understanding teacher, a large man who Shiro once said reminded him of "Wolverine with a smile", he insisted his students just refer to him as Thace and not Mr Gairan, too, which was great because that's how Keith had come to know him anyway.   
Thace had taken one look at his student, gave him copies of the Lesson plan and the source material he'd need and let him go to study wherever he needed to go.  
Second lesson with Mr Zarkon Black was much worse. Zarkon wasn't nearly as tolerant or understanding as Thace, and had forced him to stay in the lesson and take down his hood- he'd allowed the headphones and the ring to stay though.

Third lesson, a Study session with Mx Ryner Olkari, a sturdy old Asian teacher who taught Engineering but also had a deep personal connection with plant life. They were understanding, like Thace, and allowed Keith to study in the darker corner of the room, and keep his hood. He'd started to feel better, in his view, around halfway through the lesson when he'd generally started feeling somewhat sluggish and numb.   
He'd spotted Hunk from under his hood, the sunshine human being making his way over, and turned down his sound block a bit. He sent a small wave to him, before noticing the smaller, more Blue shape following behind. 

Keith noted that in the background, his sound block had changed from the noise of a fireplace crackling, to a rushing river inside a cave.

Hunk sat down, piling his books from his arms onto the table and placing his phone, key chain and inhaler onto the table. Lance followed, pulling his chair up and flopping down dramatically, resting his head on his arms. Hunk lay his hand on his friend's back and rubbed sympathetically, using his other hand to write a note on a post-it quickly, before passing it over to Keith.

The handwriting was happy and looping, full of Hunk's (slightly forced) optimism. ' Bad Day??? Writing better? ' it read, with a little lightly bolt next to it.  
Keith picked up his pen, looking between Hunk and Lance, who'd lifted his head slightly so he could rest his chin on his arms and look at Keith. ' Yeah, Takashi had a night terror again and i've been bad since- had Zarkon 2nd Period." he wrote, wincing at his somewhat scratchy, dis proportioned writing next to the looping neatness of Hunk's. Lance reached over and pulled the note towards him and Hunk, leaning over to read it before grabbing at the pen in the larger boy's hand, before writing down something quickly.  
Keith paused, watching uncomfortably as Hunk bit his lip and Lance raised an eyebrow, pushing the note back towards the boy on the opposite side of the table. 

Lance's writing was almost like the sea, it veered slightly up and down, the font sometimes connecting and sometimes stopping halfway through the letter, only to finish it in the next stroke. At the end of his words, the writing curved almost like a wave coming into the shore.   
The teardrop at the end of the note didn't help.  
' WHos Takashi?? NightTerror? does he have PTSD or something '

Keith paused, rereading the note, looking up at Lance's face. His mouth was pulled into a frown, his jaw twitching, and when Keith forced himself to flick up to meet his eyes, they were a bright, pulsing blue that seemed- most certainly- not natural. They also seemed pinched, eyebrows drawn down into an expression that Keith remembered seeing before. Worry. His and Shiro's Mom, so often after the crash, during Shiro or His breakdowns, when they had to move- she wore a face like that, pinched and pulled and Worried.

' Takashi Shirogane- most people call him Shiro. He's my Brother, and Yes. He has PTSD- night terrors, can't drive at night, can't be in a car as a passenger-' the post-it ran out of room, and Keith reread Lance's note again, before sighing and pushing his reply towards the two. Who cares if he's oversharing on the second time meeting someone, Keith knew that if this Lance was going to try and be his friend- for Hunk's sake or not- he would have to find out sooner or later about Takashi and the accident. Keith loved his brother, his family was close- not as close as before the accident, before Shiro's diagnosis, but still close.  
His few friends knew about it. Pidge knew...because it was their Brother and Dad who'd been in that accident with him, Hunk because he was a good friend, Allura because she was Shiro's friend, Coran because he'd always been like a father figure to them all- Allura was his niece who lived with him after her father died a few years back.

Keith was brought out of his thoughts by a new, cleaner post-it note with a couple of lines, on in each of the other two boy's writing. Hunk had drawn a small sun in the corner, followed by ' Tell Shiro I hope he's feeling better after this morning, and if he still wants those cooking lessons im happy to teach him <3 ' the heart was looping and small, but full of care and even Keith could see it. He smiled at Hunk, nodding quickly before reading Lance's

' i hpe u and ur bro are ok & have support cuz that's rlly fucking shitty my dude also do u always rite lke tht? i thought ur name was kogane bruh why different names??? also y ur bro go by Shiro" 

Keith was stumped, on one hand the first part of the message was...somewhat touching. He knew they were lucky to have their Mom's support, and their friend's, but it was nice to hear that. On the other hand, the latter half was confusing. The mood of the note completely shifted, and how was his writing wrong? Why did he care about their surnames?  
Keith pulled one of his earphones out, looking up at the two.

"What?" he hissed, pushing the note back. His headache thrummed again, and he cringed back from the onslaught of noise from the people in the room. "Why does it matter how I write? Or what my surname is?" 

Lance held his hands up, leaning back slightly as Hunk facepalmed."Lance, please don't start fights." he mumbled, reading the note Lance had written as Lance squawked quietly.

"Not starting fights!" he said, slightly too loud for Keith and he watched as the raven flinched back. "Sorry, quiet, got it. I wasn't starting fights, i'm legit just curious. Why do you write so proper? Not that it's bad, just different, yknow. And I wanna learn more about you, like your surname stuff, etcetera."

Keith sighed, "I just do, okay, I don't know why. Also me and Shiro were both adopted, and our Mom thought it'd be nice if we kept our original names. Shiro prefers...uh...Shiro because it's just short and easy." he mumbled, wringing his hands together and tapping his foot.   
He stared down at Lance's writing again, compared it with Hunk's, with his own on the post-it note next to it.

Mx Olkari sauntered over then, preventing a reply from either of the two, graceful when weaving in between the tables. They placed a Hand down next to Keith, smiling at Hunk and Lance.   
"Keith, child, i've put in a note with the admission board. You're free to leave and go home if you would prefer to, and I recommend you go recuperate yourself and feel better. Your other tutors will email your lesson plans and material, and say that if you could hand it in next time you see them, that's completely acceptable." They say quietly, staring at the potted plants by the doorway. "I've also been made aware you are on personal connections with Miss Allura, who's just gotten out of her studies and is more than willing to give you a ride home, should you need it." Ryner then walked away, leaving a friendly smile before turning their attention to other students.

Hunk laughed, and Lance smiled too. "I knew they were one of my favourite teachers," Hunk said gleefully, "you should take that offer, to be Honest bud. You don't seem to be doing too good and you'll be better off getting some rest and letting yourself recover."

Keith glanced down, skimming their post-it conversation and the textbooks. "Yeah...you're right. Im gonna go curl up in the dark for a while." he said, sighing and collecting his things. He glanced back up, smiling slightly at the two. "Thanks for...uh....keeping me company."   
Hunk shot him some thumbs up while Lance winked and finger-gunned, and Keith laughed, walking out the front door.

He stepped into the rain, catching Allura waving at him from beside her car, and he waved back slightly, jogging over.  
From inside the car he watched the rain hit the windows and thought back on how much Lance's writing was.....like an Ocean.  
Unlike Hunk and Keith's writing, his felt almost like a visit to the Beach.


	3. Waterfall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the forest behind Keith's house, there was a burrow that housed no animals. The hole was big, big enough for a human to fit in, and- from what could be gathered- neverending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a quick write but mostly it's building up what you need to know, and dropping some clues and some red herrings for you to pick up or not.

In the forest behind Keith's house, there was a burrow that housed no animals. The hole was big, big enough for a human to fit in, and- from what could be gathered- neverending.  
Keith had found this burrow late one night, a month or so after moving to Cuba, when he snuck out with a backpack full of camera film, snacks and spare batteries. He'd been on the look for Bigfoot, after watching documentary after documentary, and was young enough not to be able to come to the clearly obvious conclusion that Bigfoot didn't live in Cuba, he lived in Alaska or Oregon or Wyoming, duh. _God, 15 year olds, right?_  
He'd tripped, unsurprisingly, his wandering eager flashlight not picking up the root that was sticking out underfoot, and Keith had dropped his camera, watched it bounce and fall into a burrow. He'd scrambled to reach into the hole, trying to see where it went, and froze when he heard the sounds inside of something falling and bouncing off sides....and falling...and bouncing. Keith had sat there for almost ten minutes, the sound long growing too faint and far away to be heard, and he shone his flashlight down, unable to see anything but a slightly bendy hole straight down into nothingness.  
The next day, with his big bro yelling after him not to stay out too late or Mom would be angry, he'd run to the tech shop, run by a local family called the Holts, and more or less demanded of them for a video camera that could be sent with a flashlight attached down a deep hole- their daughter, a girl named Katie, had begged him to come along after hearing the story, and her older brother Matt had followed, saying he'd be the one dealing with the technology, because he was 18 and the adult. 

The siblings had brought a camera with a homemade mile long tether, saying they'd hit the bottom before using up even half of the line.  
They ran out of line. 

Reviewing the tapes only showed more tunel, more darkness. More.  
That feeling when he shone the torch down, of knowing more was to be known, knowing when he send down the camera that this thing in front of him was different. Special.  
That was the feeling Keith loved most.  
It was the third meeting when Keith felt that feeling again. It was the third meeting when he finally snapped himself together, finally stopped reaching aimlessly into a normal rabbit hole and shone the torch down the enigmatic burrow that was Lance.

Meeting Three happened at Allura's birthday get together on the weekend. And it wasn't raining. It hadn't rained all week, after Monday's downpour.  
But they were on the beach.  
Okay, small lie, it did rain a little on the Sunday of Allura's Beach party. But it was a small, half hour spitting that had stopped by the time Shiro and Keith had pulled up at the beach, mid day, and started heading towards the shore. It didn't count.

Keith had started associating Lance with water.  


Keith hated the beach, in all honesty. He disliked getting wet, rain or otherwise, the heavy claustrophobic nature of the shower at home was bad enough, and the sand was both uncomfortable to walk on, and an unpleasant scratchy stimulus he'd be shaking out of his clothing for days.  
He tolerated it, though, he would tolerate living in a sandy desert for years even, just for the bit of happiness he got to see on his brother's face as he ran up to and playfully tackled Allura and Pidge into the sand, for the easy atmosphere as Coran and Hunk laughed on the side, and the sincere care as Shay gleefully pretended to try and fail a rescue of the two in Shiro's Brother Hug TM.

He noticed out of the corner of his sight, standing just at the edge of the water and laughing joyfully at the exchange, was Lance. The water swished peacefully by his feet, up to his ankles as he stood there, a few bits of seaweed laying alongside where he lingered.  
Keith watched for a few minutes, deducing that Lance had been swimming before he and Shiro arrived- his trunks and hair were wet, his bangs pushed back from his eyes, his shoulders wet. He almost could have come...from the sea...The casual thought stopped abruptly as Keith froze slightly, his eyes meeting with the racing, pulsing Blue of the other's, before Keith moved stiffly over to Shiro and tried to ignore the feeling in his stomach. Burrow. Flashlight.

"Keith!" Allura called, plodding over now that Shiro had released her, and grabbing at his hands warmly, "I am so happy you could make it, both of you. Also I assume you've met Shay and Lance, yes?" she tilted her head slightly, a friendly smile on her face despite the hardness of her eyes as she assessed his rigidness.  
"Uh, Yeah." he replied, pulling his hands away slightly to pick at the hem of his shirt. "I've met them, glad the introductions are being skipped."  
Shiro sat up, still ruffling Pidge's hair and grinning. "Happy 19th, Allura!" he whooped, thanking Coran with a small toast when the older man handed him a glass.  
Others around the group followed sentiments, whooping and cheering, raising glasses or fists as Allura smiled happily.

"Yeah!" a voice beside Keith sounded, making him wince slightly as he realised Lance had wandered up from the water's edge, still dripping despite not having been in the water for at least the full 5 minutes him and Shiro had been there. "I know we just met, but gurl- you are looking fineee." he winked, his drawling speech over the top, and Keith genuinely couldn't tell if he was joking or legitimately trying to flirt.  
Allura apparently followed Keith's trail of thought, as she raised an eyebrow sarcastically before laughing at the line in good nature. 

Keith watched the others interact, keeping a constant grateful eye on Shiro and Pidge, laughing and joking with each other.  
After Keith had met Pidge and Matt, he'd introduced them to Shiro, who'd eagerly formed a close both with them both also.  
After almost year, Matt and Shiro had gone out to a College Meetup together, and called Matt's Dad to pick them up afterwards, around 11pm, so they could get home quickly.  
Shiro had been in the back, Matt shotgun, and then the accident happened. Pidge- Katie at the time- had broken down; she loved her older brother so much, and she'd almost seen Keith and Shiro like brothers too, but after the crash, she refused to see Shiro completely. It was only after months of grief, self assessment and healing on both sides had Shiro and Pidge been able to take that step in meeting again.  
They had to rebuild their relationship from scratch, Shiro's memory was spotty, barely even recognising Keith at some points, and everything was turmoiled.  
A few months after most of the dust had settled, Pidge had told people about their pronouns, their prefered name.  
She had a month or two later admitted to Keith, during a sleepover where they crashed on Keith's living room floor, that in her head she'd blamed him for their death, had wished countless times for it to have been him, to be able to see her brother again, and then felt guilty and disgusting for wishing that on them, on Keith.  
She also admitted that they chose the name Pidge because Matt used to compare her to a Pigeon from Pokemon.

It made Keith feel....warm, knowing they'd been able to rebuild a friendship.  
"-Hey, MCR? Mulley? Emo Brigade? You in there?" And it filled his space with Blue. Keith turned his head suddenly, face to face with Lance's snapping fingers. "Yo, you just zoned out, Space Cadet, what's up?"  
Lance was grinning playfully, and Keith frowned. "I was just thinking. No need to get into my space." he gritted out, reaching up to push Lance's hand away.  
"Jeez someone's touchy. I just wanted to say hey, ask how you'd been, apparently we dont have any classes together other than that monday session, sucks right." he babbled on, his voice lilting as he talked. Suddenly, he stopped, turning and making Keith jump. "Dude you want to hear my Dolphin impression?"  
Keith gaped, whiplashed from the pace at which Lance had changed topics. "Uhhhhhh..."  
"Oh cmon you know you want to!"  
"...Sure..."

Lance whooped, giving a small victory punch into the air before stopping. "OKay right let me get this," he wheezed, eyes full of excitement as Keith looked up quickly up to check them. He took a deep breath, before opening his mouth and....making an actual dolphin noise. The high pitched squeaky clacking was unexplainable, but as easily identifiable as it was unbelievable. The ocean whooshed passed Keith's ears, dolphins jumping into the air in that moment, and Keith choked slightly on the sheer amount of Blue in the air. Shay nearby had dropped her cup in surprise, catching the two boy's attentions.

"That was an actual noise of the dolphin!" the large girl gushed, catching the attention of the others with her shocked happiness.  
Keith looked back and forth between the others and Lance, who was laughing and High-Fiving Shay and Hunk.  
"Lance you make such a convincing noise! Can you do any others?" Shay gushed, her sentiments echoed by Coran and Shiro who were interested.  
Lance laughed, absentmindedly picking at a bit of dead skin on his elbow, "What kind of noises are you thinking?" he boasted, before flexing his arms into a pose and walking towards the group. "I can do a fair few, so suggestions are open!"

Keith watched, not having moved, and only just noticed Shiro sidle up next to him.  
"Your friend seems nice, Keith, i'm glad you're getting to connect with people." he said warmly, placing and arm around Keith's shoulder and pulling him into a loose hug. "Things have been hard since...y'know....and i'm-"  
"Shiro, if you say you're sorry, in all due respect as your little brother, i'm going to punch you in the balls." Keith mused, elbowing the taller male playfully. "Thing's can only get better, Patience yields Focus and Focus brings happiness, right?"  
Shiro chuckled, lowering his head slightly and pulling Keith closer for a second. "Right. Love you little brother."  
"...Love you too, Shiro. Now go catch up with the rest of them." Keith pushed Shiro away happily, smiling in a way he'd missed. 

Keith watched Shiro join up with the group, before taking a few steps over towards them, passing where Lance had been standing before. He crunched on something unexpected, and reaching down saw a small, almost transparent shimmering scale. He turned it slightly, and the light bouncing off of it reflected a soothing ocean blue. Keith shoved the scale quickly into his pocket, grinning as he started walking towards the group again, and in his mind he was holding a flashlight, walking towards a burrow.

"Hey Lance," Keith called out, resisting a laugh at the surprised look on the boy's face as he turned back, eyes such a bright blinding pale blue, "Can you do the Loch Ness?"  
The others groaned, some laughing while others booed him at him. Someone shouted up "Do a Lion!" while Keith could only let himself laugh.

Then, everyone was laughed, and in the happy mix of booming belly laughs to breathy giggles, everyone was full of colour, tinklings of rainbow. Lance's laugh right then was Blue. Rushing and dragging, heavy and consuming like a waterfall, and so very vibrantly blue.


	4. Dry Land

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter is a break chapter- No Lance for today kiddos  
> mostly Keith is freaking the heck out and Pidge, Allura and Shiro are Dealing with it (kinda badly lmao)
> 
> Also im really fucking bad at giving visuals for buildings, so if you want to know what Keith and Shiro's apartment looks like here are some photos of a Mock-Up i made in Sims > http://sta.sh/2tklw8akmb0  
> If you'd prefer not to see pictures and imagine it yourself, feel free!

Keith flinched as the bedroom door behind him opened, shattering the quiet stillness of the apartment, breaking away from the long obsessive stare at the television in front of him. The edge of the sofa pressed softly against his back through the layer of thick blanket haphazardly thrown over his head and shoulders, corners gathered at his chest, and a dozen dvd cases were strewn across the floor in front of him without a care.  
The overhead light flicked on, lighting up the small living room, and Keith blindly reached for the remote to pause the documentary as he glanced at the time on his phone. 5;23 AM.

"Keith? Have you been up...all night?" his brother's voice sounded, moving slowly closer as Shiro plodded sleepily towards the couch. He took in the bags under keith's eyes, the hideous weighted blanket and the DVD cases creating a mayhem of mess around the room, a frown settling on his face. "I'm taking your silence as a yes," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and gesturing weakly with his stump, "I'm going to call your school, tell them you can't come in today, and you're going to get some rest and then tell me what's happened to cause...this."

After being ushered blearily into his room and settled into bed by Shiro, Keith's sleep was fitful and uncomfortable, flashes of theories intersected only by varying shades of blue. He woke up dazed to the muffled sounds of conversation in the small kitchen, just off to the side of the living room and next door to Keith's bedroom. The clock, in a dull red glow, read 1;12pm.   
Keith groaned slightly, pulling a pillow over his head as he thought back to his brother's words from that morning- he'd want some kind of explanation for what had been so important to Keith, so pressing, to knock his entire Sunday and Monday schedule off grid, and Keith was sure if Shiro wouldn't want to hear the answer.   
As an older brother, Takashi had always been supportive to Keith, helping him with keeping his schedule, with finding helpful ways of Stimming, of helping secure Keith a job where his co-workers understood his needs and were okay with keeping a constant in his routine. He'd been supportive of everything, except for Keith's obsessive special interest in Cryptids and Mysteries.

Keith knew that if he told Shiro the truth, that he had a deep suspicion that Lance was not ordinary or even human, Shiro would be concerned, try to tell him that he "Knew Keith was interested in this stuff, but sometimes things were just...things" and that "holding these Conspiracies and Folktales as evidence or truth was just going to hurt him". Shiro, for how patient and kind he could be, wasn't a saint. Keith remembered in the past how Shiro had blown up at him once, driven over the edge by Keith's constant questioning and badgering, babbling about Cryptids and his outings to look for them, until eventually he snapped, turned red and shouted. (And apologised an hour later.)  
He couldn't tell Shiro that the reason he'd left Allura's birthday slightly early yesterday, also ditching Shiro to drive home by himself, was so that he could run down to the Bookstore, the DVD and VHS hut that was still somehow running, and the Folklore and Mythology shop on 3rd, and pick up every book or dvd he could on Deities, Myths, Monsters, and Creatures that had anything to do with the Sea, or water.

He couldn't tell Shiro how he'd gotten home, and then sat for hours watching documentary after documentary, skimming books with highlighters and sticky notes, learning.  
Learning about Mermaids, Selkies, Harpies, Asrai, and Sirens.   
About the Yoruba Water Goddess Yemayá, worshiped across Africa and the Americas, in Cuba worshiped in Santería as mother of all living things and owner of all the Seas and Oceans.  
About Celtic water Deities, Grannus; a god associated with spas, the sun, and healing springs, and the gods of the Sea Lir and Llŷr.   
About the Hawaiian god of the ocean, magic and Underworld, Kanaloa or Tangaroa.  
About Hanzaki Daimyojin, the gigantic Japanese salamander and master of the water, or the Leviathan, a sea monster of Hebrew mythology, or Illuyanka, the Hittite dragon of the ocean.  
About Ktchi at'husis and Weewilmekq, the giant serpents of Native American Mi'kmaq lore, and the Slavic water demon, Vodyanoi, who lived in lakes and rivers.  
About a Inuit lunar deity and god of weather, water, tides, eclipses, and earthquakes, Alignak, and the Māori God of the sea, Tangaroa.

Keith Learnt these names, learnt their stories, learnt who could and couldn't be trusted if met. He pinned them to his mind and engrossed himself in their lore until morning, not even noticing his brother coming home and going to bed.  
Takashi couldn't be told.  
But he had to get up eventually.

Keith sighed, groaning again as he peeled the pillow off of his face and dragged himself out of bed, grabbing his clicker from the jacket thrown messily over the end of the bed. He ran a hand through his hair, pulling a face when his hand caught on the knots and struggling weakly to pull his hand out, clicking the clicker a few times as he opened the door, kicking back the pile of dirty clothes that were starting to overstep the bounds of their corner.

The hallway light was off, and the room to the right of Keith's door, leading down to the bathroom, Shiro's bedroom, the front door and the Utility Closet of Doom (Keith was certain that cupboard contained a void of some sorts that ate any supplies, coats or gloves stored in there) was generally dark save for the small bits of light filtering through hallway from the kitchen to the right.  
Keith would be the first person to admit their house was odd, an apartment on the 7th floor of the building, it was a rectangular-ish flat with three bedrooms, one bathroom, and a long hallway that ran from the front door opposite Shiro's bedroom and next to the closet, widening into a space they used as the Living room, and then bending round into the kitchen. Their Mom's room was through the wall from the TV, door next to the entrance to the kitchen, and they had no actual Dining room or study.  
The whole house was filled with whatever-they-could-get mismatched furniture and tacky wallpaper, and Keith loved it, because it was Home.

He shuffled along the hallway, socks muffling the sounds of his movements against the wooden floorboards, stifling back a yawn with his hand. The quiet conversation from in the kitchen carried on, and Keith stopped outside the entrance a second to listen.  
"- honestly think you're worrying too much," a soft, British sounding voice sounded, "I love Keith, we all love Keith but, Shiro, even you have to admit sometimes....he..."  
"Can be an impulsive weirdo about stuff." Ah yes, he snorted quietly, Keith would recognise that scathing Pidgeon-style humour anywhere.   
"Uh, yes, thank you, Pidge- Keith has a very impulsive way of dealing with things."   
"I know okay, he's my Brother, but this is exactly the type of thing he does before doing something dangerous and i'm worried." Shiro's voice cut through, sounding somewhat strained. 

Keith frowned, stepping into the kitchen and watching as the others turned to him. Pidge sat slumped on the counter in front of the window, elbow resting on the microwave and holding their head up, Allura and Shiro were farther into the room, with Shiro firmly pushing buttons on the Coffee maker before Keith had walked in.   
"Morning, Black Knight Satellite," Pidge quipped from the corner, kicker her feet gently against the cupboards.

"Keith, buddy, how are you feeling?" his brother asked, a nervous undertone in his voice.

"...Fine....kinda tired, I guess" Keith ground out, crossing his arms and glaring over at his brother. "How're you guys, Pidge, Allura?"  
Allura glanced quickly around the room, laughing nervously, "I am perfectly fine, Keith, it's nice to see you."

Pidge tutted, jumping down from the bench and causing the two older people to flinch slightly at the sudden movement. "Cut the crap guys, Keith what's the biggie? You skipped classes today and spent all night theorising without me?"   
Keith pouted, glaring even more at Shiro and Allura.  
"Okay, fine, here's how we're gonna do this." Pidge seethed, "You're going to sum up everything in one sentence what happened, Allura and Shiro aren't going to say anything, and then we're going to decide whether to move on or help you with the research. Clear?" Allura nodded while Shiro muttered quietly to himself, but sighed in resignation at a sharp look from the others in the room.  
Keith curled in on himself slightly, rubbing his thumb firmly on the clicker in his hand. "Fine...I-uh..."  
"Cmon, Keith."  
"Lance is a Cryptid!"

A pause fell over the room, before Shiro groaned loudly and covered his face with his hands, and Pidge chortled to herself, snorting loudly and leaning against the counter to hold herself up.  
Allura moved closer, a worried look on her face. "Keith..."  
"No, this is why I didn't want to tell you guys. Pidge may not think i'm insane but you and Shiro don't believe me-"  
"No, we don't, Keith!" Shiro spoke up, cutting him off, "This is ridiculous."  
"Shiro, please let Keith finish."  
"Allura, no, this has gone on long enough. It was bad enough with the Endless holes or crazy time cats or-or giant Mothpeople in the forests, but now he's-" Shiro made a frustrated noise, pointing at Keith, "now you're projecting these fantasies onto people who have nothing to do with it; Lance is a new friend who's outgoing and that is weird to you, but you can't just label people as Non-Human just because they don't fit into some neat little box, Keith."  
"That's not what's happening-!"  
"Then what is happening, Keith?"

"Takashi!" Allura snapped, before taking a breath and speaking calmly, with force. "Why don't we let Keith explain exactly what is happening."  
Pidge pushed in, sidling up to Keith's side. "Sounds good to me, Mulder."

"I don't... know here to start...." Keith said weakly, looking around.  
"What about what you've seen?" Allura offered, "What has Lance done to make you think he's....uh."  
"A Cryptid?"  
"Yes! Thank you Pidge."

Keith kicked his foot against the ground slightly, "I need...to write it down...I can't sort everything out in my head right now but it's like...this energy, reaching out and telling me to look deeper, to find something."   
Shiro sighed, and Allura furrowed her eyebrows slightly.  
"Keith," she paused, twirling her bleached platinum hair slightly and he thought, "If you're sure about this, then we wont stop you, but we want you to be honest with us about things, and let us help, and promise not to do anything dangerous or harmful okay? And Please...don't let this ruin your chances of a friendship, Lance is a good friend and we want you to have people to rely on."

"I promise I wont do anything dangerous, if you just give me a few days to get some stuff sorted out and then i'll explain everything I promise." Keith broke, looking over at his brother, who frowned worriedly back. "I promise, Shiro."

Shiro sighed, before pushing away from the corner and wrapping Keith in a hug. "Alright, i'm going to trust you here," he pushed back, keeping his hands on Keith's shoulders and smiling slightly, "Please don't do anything to break that, little brother."  
Allura wrapped her arms around each of the brother's shoulders, pulling them into a loose hug. "Right! Lets go get drinks, and the young'uns are gonna uses their Staff Privileges at the Cafe to get me a discount on a ChocoLatte!"


	5. Lagoon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The fourth meeting happened two days after Shiro's attempt at an intervention, and was set up by Pidge during the time it took for Allura and Shiro to order, pay for and receive drinks for all four of them.  
> Rain was pelting rhythmically against the window of the coffee shop, and a few small clusters of people were dotted around the seating area, talking quietly as to keep the flowing peace of the shop intact..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i am sO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG  
> but whoo boy that Season 3 tho
> 
> Keith's thoughts are pretty disjointed and all over the place at this point,  
> 

The fourth meeting happened two days after Shiro's attempt at an intervention, and was set up by Pidge during the time it took for Allura and Shiro to order, pay for and receive drinks for all four of them.  
Rain was pelting rhythmically against the window of the coffee shop, and a few small clusters of people were dotted around the seating area, talking quietly as to keep the flowing peace of the shop intact. The chill of the glass felt soothing against Keith's cheek as he slumped to the side, eyes sweeping the tables and counting the chairs, losing count and retrying every dozen or so.  
(He'd never been good with numbers, mostly they just wouldn't stay in his head and it took him way too long trying to read analogue or 24 Hour clocks.)

The gentle tap-tapping of Pidge's phone keyboard soothed him a little, fighting the sluggishness of overwhelmed senses and the unease of a ruined schedule-  
Keith wanted to be mad at Shiro, bitter that his brother just couldn't understand how important his theories or investigations were and angry about the fact that he was so, so determined to try and get Keith to stop. He couldn't be angry though, even if he tried.  
Shiro had lost so much; his Dad, his arm, his best friend, his career, his health- and had watched keith grow up with so many things shoved at him with no support to fight against (figuratively and literally; no shortage of people during his childhood could resist the urge to pick on and exclude the Weird Kid who's mind Didn't Work Right.)  
Even Keith could tell that Shiro was just scared to lose him too.

"Hey, is Wednesday a good day to hang out?" Pidge piped up from across the table, and Keith lifted his head enough to side-eye Shiro and Allura before turning to her. 

"Yeah, I can do that...are you-"

"Texting Hunk, who's hanging out with Lance right now. I asked if the four of us can hang out sometime and he says on Wednesday him and Lance are going to hang out by the Waterfall, have a picnic, watch the sunset or something, plus Lance said it's cool to invite us." Pidge pressed a the lock button on their phone with a smug flourish, shoving it into their jacket pocket, "Also I asked Hunk for Lance's number and get this; Hunk doesn't have it, cause apparently Lance doesn't have a phone- whenever they hang out it's because Lance contacts him first, ringing from a friend's phone, going to his apartment, e.t.c-"

"Did you really just say 'EeeTeeCee'?" Keith interjects, huffing a soft laugh.

"-Don't interrupt, Goth Ness, and yes, but the point is Hunk can't ever find Lance unless Lance finds him first, which is highly suspicious because who doesn't have a phone these days? Nobody!" Pidge throws their hands into the air, and Keith sees Allura eyeing them while Shiro picks up a tray of drinks from the counter.

"Broke college students, clumsy people, people that hate social interaction- also Heads Up." Keith muses, pushing forwards a bit and inching his seat towards the low down table between them.

The subject drops away and Keith falls into blissful quiet as Shiro and Allura carefully plonk themselves into the seats next to him and Pidge, handing out the drinks.

 

Its only later does Keith approach the subject again, late at night in the quiet bubble of his bedroom, his phone light illuminating the room in a soft haze, bouncing around the walls as its reflected by the window and numerous shiny galactic posters taped haphazardly to his walls.

 **To: Pidge**  
_How are we getting to the waterfall, and what time?_ ✔✔

 **To: Knifelord2006**  
_o shit (waddup) i dont know ? uhhhhhhhhhhhhh_ ✔✔  
_i can ask Coran if he cud drive us let me ring him quickly_ ✔✔

 **To: Pidge**  
_Okay._ ✔✔

 **To: Knifelord2006**  
_he chewed me out for ringing hinm this late but he agreed to drive us on wed n Hunk said him n lance are getting there for like 4pm_ ✔✔  
_and then hunk can drive us home for 9 or earlier if idk_ ✔✔  
_coran said he's cool to pick us up from my place and drive us there for half 5_ ✔✔

 **To: Pidge**  
_Sounds good, i'll see you then i guess_ ✔✔

 **To: Knifelord2006**  
_(/ ˘˘з)/♬♪_ ✔✔

 **To: Pidge**  
_..._ ✔✔  
_⊂((〃’⊥’〃))⊃_ ✔

Keith huffed a laugh quietly, plugging in his phone and turning over. He pulled the blankets to his chest and listened to the soft drag of fabric, running his finger over the bumps in the paint in the wall and connecting them in his mind. Trees outside brushed quietly against the windows, rustling a lullaby.

 

If the endless burrow in the forest had been the first anomaly Keith had found after moving to Cuba with his mom and brother, then the first cryptid he'd ever found had to have been what a 7 and 3/4 year old Keith had referred to as "The Magical Everlasting Teapot".  
Keith treasured these memories, both as his first Anomaly and...one of the only memories he could find in his head with his Dad.

His adoptive mom and dad had adopted Takashi when he was 3, and four years later found Keith when he was 5.  
When Keith was nearly 8, their Dad died in an accident at work; some kind of freak malfunction Keith was never supposed to know anything about, but if he wasn't persistent enough to memorise how to get down the stairs silently and use that to listen in on his mom's conversations, then what else could he boast about?

Before his death, though, his Dad had taken Keith with him every week to meetings with his "friends"- it was an AA meeting, for alcoholics- and Keith got to wait in the bright room outside that smelt like salt and the cleaning things Mom said he wasn't allowed to touch.  
The room was filled only with some chairs, a few toys and crayons, a loud clock that ticked out of time with Keith's, and a large desk with the nice reception man, a middle-aged man with jumpers and thick glasses who poured himself mug after mug after mug of tea.  
He drank it quickly and refilled often, filling his mug almost to the brim with tea dozens of times before excusing himself to the bathroom.  
After a while Keith noticed that, unlike the kettle back at home, the one Mom used to make hot drinks that rumbled when turned on and had to be refilled every two mugs, the kettle at the side of the front desk was quiet and could fill mug after mug after mug.

He started counting, drawing a line in crayon every time the man poured a drink into his mug without refilling the kettle. When his Dad got out of the meeting with his friends, Keith asked him to count how many lines he'd drawn that day, the number always changing.  
19, 25, 16, 39, 34...  
Keith started asking his Dad to give him the time when he went into the room, and again when he came out, some meetings with Dad's friends took longer than others, and the man at the front had more time to pour tea after tea.

He began working up his courage, repeating and repeating the line "Excuse me Mr, why does your kettle never need refilled?" in the car, getting his dad to pose as the man, parroting back different answers in funny voices and making Keith laugh- "Dad! You can't distract me cause then the mystery will not get answers!"- until they got there, where Keith would lose his nerve and go silent, shuffling quickly to the corner with the crayons.  
( "Did you ask him about his magic kettle, Keith?" Dad asked quietly, every week, holding out his sleeve for Keith to grab onto, and smiling softly when had Keith shook his head, before humming happily, "Ah, that's okay! You can ask him next week." )

(Next Week suddenly stopped coming, and Keith never found out what happened to the magical kettle.)

 

Coran's car was- for lack of any other wording that would emphasise Keith's point- fucking ancient.  
"The Castle", as everyone sarcastically referred to it as, was a comically large van that was covered in a fresh, sparkling coat of white paint every time Keith saw it, but bits and pieces were constantly falling off or displacing, and required an absurd amount of gas to move. Allura kept helping Coran repair and maintain it simply for the reason that it was the first car her Dad and Coran had bought together, making it irreplaceable.

"Shit, Coran this car is falling apart at the seams, is it even safe to ride in?" Pidge snarked from the back, grabbing desperately onto the car door as she rattled about.

"Oh, pssh! This car has been well maintained and looked after for many years- why, Alfor and I bought it for it's sturdiness and longevity in the first place!" Coran's hand waved excitedly in the air, before resting with a final whumpf onto the steering wheel, 

"How much longer?" Keith grumbles, pulling his clicker out of his pocket, trying to filter out the low rattling of the car around him and looked around the road for signs of where they were. "We've been driving for hours, Coran, where even is this place?"

Coran chuckles, turning up the music- a strange, awkward boppy tune that works well enough to cover the rattling of the car, but grates at Keith's nerves a little, if thankfully not his senses- and pressing higher on the AC button, before switching effortlessly to the SatNav on the dash. "The Web.Lm says we have twenty more minutes until we get there, actually," he muses, returning his hand to the wheel to tap along to the tune, "So we shouldn't be much longer, there in just a few ticks! Then you guys can take as long as you want splashing about in the lakes and battling the waterfall! Y'know, when I was a lad, before I met Alfor and little Allura, I too went on my fair share of adventures in the lakes and waters!"

"Coran that's fucking fascinating." Pidge chimed from the back, pulling out their phone. 

Coran pulled a face, turning to face her slightly, "Language, number 5! How about you say uhhhh...Quiznack instead!"

"....Fine." Pidge drawled out lazily, placing their phone on the seat next to them, leaning forwards, making direct eye contact through the rear-view mirror,  
"That's fucking quiznacking."

Keith choked, laughing harshly before covering his mouth and smothering until all that could be heard was quiet snorts, while Coran just tutted affectionately, chuckled under his breath and shook his head loosely. The SatNav on the dash pinged slightly, only just recognisable over the radio's alien sounds. Keith plugged his headphones in, leaning back against the seat and drowning out the rattling and Coran's off-tune but charming rendition of whatever song was playing, ft Pidge's commentary.

A tapping on his shoulder woke Keith with a small startle, sitting up suddenly and painfully impacting with a hard surface.

"Ow! Fuck, Keith, jesus shit!" Pidge howled, reeling back and clutching her forehead, "Warn someone next time you decide to jolt like that, fuuuck."

Coran makes his way around the side of the van, moving Pidge's hand and pressing a juice pack to the place their hand was, and Keith clambers slowly to get down from the seat, in time to see the forms of Hunk and Lance jogging over to greet them; both waterlogged and dripping but grinning, Lance waving an arm enthusiastically at them.

"Hey Keith! Pidge!" Hunk's voice is warm and bellowing, laced with an excited laugh that brings a smile to people's face when they hear it, "Coran, dude, it's great to see you again! You staying for a bit? We were just about to break out the picnic food, cooked and prepared by Yours Truly." 

Hunk pulled Pidge and Coran into a hug, sweeping them both off their feet and laughing at their vocalised complaints at being smothered in a soaking wet embrace. Lance collapsed near Keith's feet, sitting back against the wheel of the van, wheezing heavily with smile on his face. He's still dripping water, where Hunk's only mildly misted- dried off from the movement. Keith's brain kicks into overdrive, memorising every detail he could and keeping on his heels, his Fight-Or-Flight instincts screaming.

Pidge squirmed in Hunk's grip, elbowing Coran and pounding weakly against his arm with an open hand. "Alright, Big Guy, down, I need solid ground again." She monotoned, carefully keeping her face blank as Hunk lowered the two to the ground with a sheepish grin. "Now, what were you saying about food? 'Cause the only thing i've put in my belly today is a peanut butter sandwich and two kitkats-"  
"When did you get KitKats?" Keith demands, eyes shooting to look at Pidge with a betrayed expression. He knows for sure that Pidge had only just woken up when him and Coran went to their house to pick them up, and was eating the sandwich as they came out the door; and she didn't even offer him one?

Pidge scoffed, pulling another kitkat out of her pocket, throwing it casually to him. "While you were taking a cat-nap in the car, genius."  
Her and Hunk started walking towards the waterfall, leaving him and Coran to carry the spare clothes and towels over, the two groups intermingling between themselve-

"Where's Lance?" Hunk's voice filters through, and Keith jumps as he feels a hand settle onto his shoulder from nowhere.

Lance laughs, walking past Keith and playfully punching Hunk's shoulder. He's still dripping, hair soaked. "Don't worry, you can't lose me yet. I'm too important to this storyline, bro."

"You say that like this is some Crime Mystery Young Adult novel selling for 12 peso at the corner store." Pidge cuts in, adjusting their glasses.

"What! Nah, obviously this is a Romance Comedy, starring me; The Handsome Bachelor looking for the partner of his life, Mr or Mrs." Lance gloats, leaning back as he walked and linking his hands behind his head, clicking his heels and winking at the others.

Hunk laughs along, stage-whispering to Pidge, "It's totally a Slice Of Life Comedy, with Lance as the Comic relief" before expertly dodging Lance's playful shove and Pidge's sharp elbow to the side. Lance's eyes radiate blue in the lighting, and reflect clearly in the hazy flash of Pidge's glasses.

Keith lets himself fall back, and Pidge notices, letting the other three converse. He leans over, looking directly at the three in front as he deadpans. "Its a Supernatural Mystery Thriller with heartwarming family moments and an underlying plot of the importance of friendship in uncovering Cryptids disguised as normal people."

Pidge snorts, pocketing her phone and shaking her head before loosely grabbing his arm and pulling him to join up with the rest, who'd made it to the set up of Hunk's picnic.  
Hunk and Lance begin pulling out a multitude of food, ranging from little sausage-roll looking things to sushi to flasks of soup to Hunk's Mom's Lime pie and home recipe Banana Bread, and placed all of them around the blanket.  
Hunk beamed at the group, pushing the basket aside once everything was out and holding out plastic cutlery to everyone. "Eat up! Manuia!"  
Pidge dug in, shoving a slice of cherry cake in their mouth and moaning. "God damn, marry me Hunk. Buon appetito!" 

"Uh...Thanks for the food?" Keith offered quietly, lifting a brownie before eating it. He didn't feel bad for not knowing any Korean, it's not like Shiro knew much Japanese, plus his foster parents were Texan so he didn't have anyone to learn it from as a kid. It was just kinda awkward to have both Pidge and Hunk be somewhat attached to their heritage, even if Pidge only knew a few phrases and the brief family history, and him not know anything about his own.

"I know that look." A Voice whispered lowly next to him, causing Keith to jump. Lance was looking directly as him and smiling softly. "You wanna get to know your heritage more or something?" Lance didn't seem judgemental, or smug, so Keith forced his hackles to lower and nodded stiffly. "Yeah, a few of my family is like that. My dad's side is Cuban, but my Mom's family is from New Jersey, so us kids grew up mostly learning English, 'cause Mom was trying to learn Spanish and Granna never did. I'm the youngest, but me and a few of my siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews are all learning it together along with Ma and Aunt Stace."

"Oh." Keith didn't really know what to say. If Lance had a family...maybe he wasn't...wasn't...  
Wasn't the Only humanoid Cryptid or Anomaly walking around Cuba! Just like Mothman and Bigfoot were a _species_ with multiple specimen, so must whatever Lance was, right?  
Pidge kicked his foot, and he snapped his gaze to her. She was giving him a sharp look, and covered it up by shoving a piece of Banana Bread into his mouth. "Try this, Hunk's mom changed the fucking recipe and I can't decide if I love her or hate her. Actually, I could never hate Hunk's Mom cause she's precious and amazing, but seriously try this shit."  
Right, Keith's eyebrows raised, getting the message. Save the theorising for back at home, he could put all his thoughts down on the pinboard at home, here he was just observing.

And eating more of Ms Garrett's amazing Banana Cake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> again im super sorry for this being so late!  
> Life messed me over a bit, but im back!  
> it's never explicitly stated but Allura's mom died when she was tiny and when she was a kid Alfor and Coran got together and would have totally gotten married
> 
> I have to ask: What do You Guys think is up with Lance? is he actual a cryptid? why type? am i messing with you?


End file.
